October 29, 2007

where has October gone?!?

For any of you who might remember the days when I actually blogged now and again, you might also remember that I'm a huge Halloween fanatic. For better or for worse, this October has been completely crazy, and I've had absolutely no time to do my usual frenzy of Halloween crafting. Most of the time crunch is related to superbuzzy stuff - moving the inventory to California, getting set up in our new space, and organizing and streamlining.

Luckily, before I knew about all the superbuzzy changes, I had already purchased tickets to Mickey's Treat Night at Disneyland for this past Thursday and Friday. Although I've lived relatively close to Disneyland for quite a while, we have never been to the park around Halloween to see it decorated. Knowing that Disney takes decorating and themes quite seriously, I was really excited to see what it would be like. We drove down on Thursday morning (in horrendous traffic!), and were greeted by this:

Walking into the park, down Main Street, was really fantastic:

Fun jack-o-lanterns were everywhere, and the entire strip had this vintage, small town Halloween feel. Of course, there were even Halloween themed treats, like this pumpkin muffin:

Several of the rides seemed to be having issues on Thursday - we got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean for a good 10-15 minutes - but everything was running smoothly on Friday. Of course, the icing on the cake was getting to see the Haunted Mansion revamped for the holiday season with Jack Skellington and friends from Nightmare Before Christmas.

After about a half-day at Disneyland, we went back to the hotel so that Brynne could get her costume on. Then, we headed for an evening of Halloween festivities at California Adventures for Mickey's Treat Night.

We weren't terribly prepared for the set-up that night, and it took me a while to study the map to figure out what was going on. The park had trick-or-treat locations, spots to meet and greet characters (dressed in costume, of course!), treat trails with multiple trick-or-treat locations, and party zones with music and dancing with characters. Brynne had a fantastic (but probably overwhelming) night of treat gathering and communing with her Disney friends. If we decide to go again next year, I think I'm a bit more prepared for the madness of the night, and how to tackle it.

We got an early start the next morning for more Disneyland fun. We started at the Princess Faire, where we were at the front of the line for Brynne to meet Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Minnie Mouse in princess attire, and Snow White. Brynne was over the moon with all of this - it was really quite impressive how much time each character spent with each child. After meeting the princesses, you can treat your child to a full royal makeover (for $$$$) - we settled for a much more reasonable face painting. (Even with all of the princess face paint options, Brynne was true to form and picked the cat!)

After a second full day of park madness, we spent Saturday quietly recovering. We crammed in a bit more Halloween fun on Sunday... we went to see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D (really incredible!) and then to Faulkner Farm for our local pumpkin patch goodness. I've got 3 more days to get my Halloween fun in, and then it's time to get ready for winter holidays!

Comments

That's awesome! I keep wanting to make it to one of the Disneys to see the Haunted House done up like that (I can't believe I only watched the movie a couple of years ago. All the years I've been missing out!). Snow White was my favorite character to meet when my grandparents took me (If you saw me, it would be pretty obvious pretty quickly). Good times, good memories!